Data Platform Engineer

Job Title: Data Platform Engineer (Databricks / Snowflake)

Location: Hybrid / Onsite - Newark, NJ

Department: Data Engineering / AnalyticsPosition Summary

We are seeking a Data Platform Engineer to design, administer, and optimize our enterprise cloud data platforms, supporting environments built on Databricks and/or Snowflake. This role is primarily focused on platform administration, performance optimization, security, governance, and automation, enabling scalable and compliant data workloads across the organization.

The ideal candidate brings strong experience managing enterprise data platforms in cloud environments, partnering closely with data engineers, architects, infrastructure, and analytics teams to ensure platform reliability, efficiency, and secure access.Key Responsibilities

Platform Administration & Optimization

• Deploy, configure, and manage enterprise Databricks and/or Snowflake environments, including workspaces, accounts, clusters, warehouses, jobs, roles, and permissions.
• Monitor platform health, performance, and usage; troubleshoot issues and optimize resource utilization.
• Implement best practices for cost management, scalability, and performance tuning.
• Support and maintain platform upgrades, configurations, and operational standards.
• Implement and support Unity Catalog (Databricks) and RBAC/data access models (Snowflake) where applicable.

Security, Governance & Compliance

• Configure and manage identity and access management (IAM/RBAC), data access controls, and role-based permissions.
• Enforce data governance, security standards, and compliance requirements.
• Manage secrets, tokens, encryption, masking, and secure data sharing.
• Partner with security, architecture, and governance teams to ensure compliance with enterprise and regulatory standards.

Integration & Automation

• Integrate data platforms with cloud storage, data lakes, ETL/ELT tools, APIs, and enterprise systems.
• Automate platform provisioning, configuration, and operational tasks using IaC and scripting.
• Support CI/CD pipelines and deployment processes for data platform changes.
• Develop reusable scripts, templates, and operational tooling to standardize platform management.

Collaboration & Support

• Partner with Data Architecture, Enterprise Architecture, Infrastructure, and Security teams.
• Support data engineers, analysts, and data scientists by enabling efficient and reliable platform usage.
• Provide technical guidance on platform capabilities, best practices, and operational patterns.
• Document platform architecture, configurations, standards, and operational procedures.
• Act as a subject matter expert for Databricks and/or Snowflake platform administration.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 3+ years of experience administering cloud-based data platforms.
• Hands-on experience with Databricks and/or Snowflake in an enterprise environment.
• Strong knowledge of SQL and at least one scripting or programming language (e.g., Python).
• Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS or Azure.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, automation, and Infrastructure as Code tools (e.g., Terraform).
• Solid understanding of data security, networking, identity management, and governance in cloud environments.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience supporting both Databricks and Snowflake platforms.
• Knowledge of Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, MLflow, or advanced Databricks features.
• Experience with dbt, Airflow, or similar orchestration tools (administrative/support perspective).
• Background in performance tuning and cost optimization for cloud data platforms.
• Databricks, Snowflake (SnowPro), or cloud certifications (AWS/Azure).
• Exposure to enterprise data governance frameworks and compliance standards.

Soft Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent communication and collaboration abilities.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced, highly matrixed, agile environment.
• Ability to translate technical platform concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.